These are the highlights of a rousing speech in defence of press freedom given by Jacob Rees-Mogg during last night’s Data Protection Bill debate:

“Mr Mosley was the authoriser of a leaflet… What did this leaflet say? As I say, this is so appalling that I am reluctant to read it out in Parliament. Under a heading of “Protect your health”, it said: “There is no medical check on immigration. Tuberculosis, VD and other terrible diseases like leprosy are on the increase. Coloured immigration threatens your children’s health.”

That is the view of the funder of IMPRESS. It is little wonder that our free press does not want to be associated with such a man. It is little wonder that, to its credit, the Labour party has now refused to take any further funding from this man, but IMPRESS has not. IMPRESS has not condemned this man. It has not said it will refuse further funding from the charitable trust he set up purely and specifically to keep IMPRESS running. IMPRESS has done nothing of this kind. It has a reputation of its own, and there is a certain irony in this; its chief executive is a man called Jonathan Heawood, and he tweeted, of all things, that the Daily Mail was “a neo-fascist rag”. Dare I say that he might know a good deal more about neo-fascists than one had thought when that tweet was originally circulated?”

“Did John Major give a free vote on Maastricht? This is where he really is guilty of being a complete humbug. He whipped that through in the most aggressive whipping in modern history. For that PM to then say ‘oh it should be a free vote’, is either forgetting how he behaved himself, ignoring how he behaved himself, or just straight forward hypocrisy.”

Jacob Rees-Mogg is caught delivering a petition on foreign aid to Number 10 during @faisalislam‘s TV live. During the impromptu interview he denies “measuring up the curtains” and says he hopes Theresa May remains as PM “for a very long time” pic.twitter.com/2zX06twBdD

Jacob Rees-Mogg turns up to Number 10 to deliver a petition on international aid, then gives an impromptu interview to Faisal Islam about why we have to leave the customs union. Not doing himself any harm.

Multiple eyewitnesses say thehooded protester who went nose-to-nose with Jacob Rees-Mogg tonight is a Corbynista, Momentum and Labour supporter. The word on campus is that the hatted protester with red sunglasses seen berating the Mogg in the above video is Josh Connor, a former student at the University of the West of England, where tonight’s disruption took place. Connor was described by eyewitnesses as the protester who was “most vocal and stayed longest.” His social media – swiftly made private late last night – tells the usual story…

Likes include Jeremy Corbyn, Bristol Momentum Youth, Bristol Labour Party and Filton and Bradley Stoke Constituency Labour Party. Posts include a picture of a pie with the word “corbz” baked into the crust. Another picture shows Ken Loach addressing a Bristol Momentum event. Other pics show a copy of Mao’s Little Red Book being received as birthday present and hammer and sickle with the slogan “eat the rich.”Sadly predictable…

Video shows violent scenes at a student event where Jacob Rees-Mogg is speaking tonight. Rees-Mogg was scheduled to address the Politics and International Relations Society at the University of the West of England, Bristol.

A student who attended the event told Guido tonight:

“There had been a few threats to the event before on Facebook. There was security brought in for the event. A couple of minutes into Jacob Rees-Mogg’s speech about seven masked protesters came in from the back, some were wearing hoods they started shouting at Rees-Mogg: ‘racist’, ‘bigot’ and ‘how can you work for a fascist government.’ Rees-Mogg tried to speak to them and it quietened down for a bit, security removed some. Then there was a confrontation between a protester and an audience member. Rees-Mogg stepped in to try to separate them and he was pushed. The police were called but didn’t enter the auditorium.”

President of UWE Conservative Society Callum Tucker told Guido:

“I’m disappointed that uninvited individuals wearing balaclavas entered a private event in hostility. He was a gentleman who went to debate and understand them and they didn’t want to listen. Violence has no place in society and freedom of speech should be protected.”

2/5 When Mr. Grant says ‘The Treasury is determined to keep us in the Customs Union’ does he mean the Chancellor or officials? If the Chancellor, it is a breach of collective responsibility, if officials, against their duty to implement Government policy #TreasuryGate

3/5 When Mr. Grant refers to ‘unpublished papers’ on the Customs Union, who commissioned these and authorised him to be told? Again, if officials, improper for them to tell a partisan think-tank leader before most of the Government or Parliament #TreasuryGate

The Mogg has a point here. As Guido pointed out yesterday, Charles Grant of the Centre for European Reform did say that the Treasury is trying to bounce the government into a softer Brexit. That is either a breach of Hammond’s collective responsibility or the civil service’s duty to implement government policy. Isn’t that the more important story?

The standout moments from DD’s appearance in front of the Brexit select committee were his sparring with new ERG chairman Jacob Rees-Mogg. The Mogg said once again that we will be a vassal state of the EU during the transition, one of his favourite lines:

“If on the 30th of March 2019, the UK is subject to the ECJ, takes new rules relating to the single market and is paying into the European Budget, are we not a vassal state?” asks @Jacob_Rees_Moggpic.twitter.com/65c7x9Xovc

Jacob Rees-Mogg asks David Davis about an @FT piece by @GeorgeWParker, which quotes a ‘government official spokesperson’ as saying: “leaving the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice was never formally a red line” pic.twitter.com/FDPYtUB98U

In truth it has long been inevitable that not much will change during the transition. What has always mattered is that the transition is short and that the end point that comes afterwards is a real, clean Brexit, properly diverging from the EU…

Last week David Dimbleby unwisely challenged Brexit champion Jacob Rees-Mogg when he pointed out the BBC had regularly pushed the “despite brexit” agenda. A clearly riled Dimbleby tore into Rees-Mogg on Question Time:

“Can you actually specify an occasion when you’ve heard that… have you got a quotation?… Are you sure, are you sure?”

Want to be the next Tory leader? Then oppose HS2 – that’s what a new study by pollster Frank Luntz has found. His focus group conducted for the Daily Politics during Tory conference found opposition to HS2 causes the most positive reaction towards potential party leadership candidates among Tory voters. The focus group used live feedback technology to measure audience positivity towards five potential leaders. Peak positive reaction was recorded as Jacob Rees-Mogg explained his opposition towards the high-speed rail project. The focus group loved the Mogg’s anti-HS2 stance so much that it outweighed hesitations about his traditional views…

One Tory voter told the focus group:

“It just demonstrates he gets it, it’s a total waste of money… saying so is leadership”

The queues to see Leave Means Leave’s Jacob Rees-Mogg event at the Radisson were so long the police had to be called to keep order. In the absence of any real news the Mogg is the box office figure at conference so far. A who’s who of Brexiters turned up to hear him this evening including David Davis, his SpAd Stewart Jackson and Brexit minister Steve Baker. The Mogg warned that “organisations within the state” are working against Brexit, naming the Home Office as a potential threat to Brexit and warning: “I am very suspicious of Her Majesty’s Treasury”. He told the room it was in civil servants’ interests to delay Brexit and laid into the BBC, whose coverage since the referendum he labelled “absolutely appalling”. In the heat a lady fainted, the Mogg leapt to her side like an ambitious MP in a room full of Tory members…

Aside from the Moggmania, the most interesting comments came from former Brexit minister David Jones. With his old boss looking on, Jones insisted DExEU is making preparations for a no deal scenario, but called on the government to publish the plans. He added that unless the EU agrees to talk about the future trade relationship “we must make it absolutely clear we will terminate negotiations”. Increasing numbers of Tory MPs are resigned to the negotiations failing – it is worrying the government has done so little to talk publicly about its plans for no deal…

The mischievous Campaign for Conservative Democracy launched in Manchester this morning with a more than slightly cheeky mock election for party chairman. The results are in, obviously the Mogg is the winner:

Jacob Rees-Mogg: 28.6%

Lord Ashcroft: 20%

Ruth Davidson: 11.4%

Boris Johnson: 10%

Anna Soubry: 1.4%

A perhaps more realistic long-term ambition for Jacob after he once again ruled out the leadership at the ConHome fringe last night. Also worth noting that Patrick McLoughlin opened conference with a robust, well-received speech yesterday speaking to members’ concerns about the election. There is no vacancy…

The likes of Jacob Rees-Mogg and Owen Paterson are grumbling about May’s speech – the Mogg articulated their concerns on Newsnight about free movement and ECJ oversight continuing during the transition.[…] Read the rest